Joey Didulica

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Personal information
Joey Didulica
Full name	Joseph Anthony Didulica
Date of birth	14 October 1977
Place of birth	Geelong, Victoria, Australia
Height	191 cm
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club	AZ Alkmaar
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1995-96 1996-99 1999-03 2001 2003-06 2006-present	North Geelong Warriors Melbourne Knights Ajax Amsterdam → Germinal Beerschot (loan) Austria Wien AZ Alkmaar	1 (0) 60 (0) 16 (0) 2 (0) 87 (0) 7 (0)
National team²
2004-2006	Croatia	4 (0)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 22 October 2006. ² National team caps and goals correct as of 22 June 2006. * Appearances (Goals)

Joseph Anthony Didulica [ˈdidulitsa] (born 14 October 1977) is a Croatian Australian football (soccer) goalkeeper, better known as Joey Didulica.

Didulica was born in Geelong, Victoria to a Croatian father, Luka, and a Croatian-Australian mother, Mary. His father emigrated to Australia from Poličnik, a village in northern Dalmatia, about 10 kilometres outside of Zadar.

He started to play football in the North Geelong Warriors. In 1996, he moved to the Melbourne Knights, a club whose team primarily consists of Australian Croats, and played for them until 1999. Then he transferred to Ajax Amsterdam, whence he was first loaned to Belgian side Germinal Beerschot for a couple of months in 2001 before eventually moving to Austria Wien in 2003. After spending three seasons as a regular in goal for Austria Wien, Didulica returned to the Netherlands and was signed by AZ Alkmaar. He made seven Eredivisie appearances with the club before being forced to take a longer break following a brain concussion he sustained in a league match against PSV Eindhoven in October 2006 after being hit with the ball in his head from a shot by Eindhoven's Australian international Jason Čulina. [1]

In 2000, Didulica was selected to the Australian squad for the Sydney Olympics, but had to withdraw due to injury and never received an international cap for the Australian national team at A-level. In 2004, he decided to play for the country of his parents. According to Didulica, his decision was based on the fact that he had not been selected to represent Australia by then coach Frank Farina. Additionally, Australia had not qualified for a World Cup for around 30 years and he saw more opportunities for success with Croatia, who qualified for both World Cups they entered at the time.

He made his debut for the Croatian national team in a friendly match against Macedonia on 28 April 2004 in Skopje and was subsequently selected to be part of the Croatian team at the Euro 2004 finals, where he served as the second-choice goalkeeper without making an appearance. He was a member of the Croatian team in both the qualifying and finals of the 2006 World Cup, but did not play a single minute during the competitions as Tomislav Butina played eight of ten qualifiers and was replaced in the remaining two qualifiers by Stipe Pletikosa, who also played every minute in all three games at the finals. In more than two years of being part of the Croatian national team, Didulica only made four appearances in friendly matches, against Macedonia, Korea Republic, Hong Kong and Austria. Just a month after the end of the 2006 World Cup, Didulica announced his retirement from international football with an explanation that he wants to concentrate more on his club career.

On 24 April 2006, an Austrian court sentenced Didulica to a fine of 60,000 euros on the count of physical injury resulting from negligence, for slamming Rapid Wien's Axel Lawaree at a Vienna derby in May 2005. Lawaree refused to accept an apology from Didulica, who was also obliged to pay him 1,000 euros as a compensation for his personal suffering. Didulica was previously already given an eight-match suspension by the Austrian Football Association for that foul.

[edit] Trivia

Joey's older brother, John, a lawyer and former football player, is the current CEO of the Australian Professional Footballers' Association.

In January 2006, Joey married fiancée Kate. The couple now have a daughter Angelina.

[edit] External links

AZ Alkmaar - Current Squad
1 Didulica \| 2 Jaliens \| 3 Luirink \| 4 Opdam \| 5 de Cler \| 7 Boukhari \| 8 Schaars \| 9 Arveladze \| 10 Cziommer \| 11 Martens \| 14 Donk \| 15 Molhoek \| 18 Dembélé \| 19 Koevermans \| 20 de Zeeuw \| 21 Waterman \| 22 Sinouh \| 23 Steinsson \| 24 Mendes da Silva \| 25 Vormer \| 26 Bulters \| 27 Jenner \| 29 Lens \| Manager: Van Gaal

	Croatia squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup
1 Pletikosa \| 2 Srna \| 3 Šimunić \| 4 R. Kovač \| 5 Tudor \| 6 Vranješ \| 7 Šimić \| 8 Babić \| 9 Pršo \| 10 N. Kovač \| 11 Tokić \| 12 Didulica \| 13 Tomas \| 14 Modrić \| 15 I. Leko \| 16 J. Leko \| 17 Klasnić \| 18 Olić \| 19 N. Kranjčar \| 20 Šerić \| 21 Balaban \| 22 Bošnjak \| 23 Butina \| Coach: Z. Kranjčar